Day Traders Diary

9/30/11

U.S. stocks tumble to start the day on data showing American incomes fell in August combined with poor Chinese manufacturing data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 135 points, or 1.2%, to 11,018, led by a 2.8% drop in American Express, while JPMorgan Chase and Caterpillar shed 2.5%. The S&P 500 index dropped 16 points to 1,143 while the Nasdaq Composite fell 41 points to 1,439. It's the last day of the quarter and what a quarter it has been. Everything is in the red this morning as no one trusts this market. Industrial firm, Ingersoll Rand is down 17% after lowering guidance. The Industrials and Materials have performed lousy this quarter on fears of a Chinese and global slowdown. In the commodity space, Mosaic is down 6% on a downgrade. The steel stocks were all upgraded, yet they are all trading lower. Marathon Oil also received an upgrade and is trading down 2%. Everything in the commodity related space looks awful. In fact, every sector looks poor. The financials are down sharply following the European banks. Deutsche Bank is down 6% on concerns they may have to lower guidance. PNC Bank is down 2% even though RBC made it their top pick. The techs are also weak as another chip company, Micron lowered guidance. The stock is down 10%. AMD is down another 2% after lowering guidance yesterday. Intel is modestly lower after announcing a small acquisition. HP is down 3% on rumors the company is still thinking of spinning off their PC business. Dell is lower as well even though one analyst is making positive comments. Through the first hour the averages battled back limiting the losses to the opening weakness. A few defensive positions in the Dow were able to sneak into the green including Merck, PG, J&J, and McDonalds. After the first hour the Dow remained weak down 100 points. The Nasdaq remained down 33 points. Through the morning the averages tried to battle back, but the broader market is still weak. More of the same in the afternoon. Only a few stocks are trading in the green. The averages held up until the last hour when the selling accelerated. What a way to end the quarter. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 240 points, or 2.2%, at 10,913. It gained 1.3% for the week but lost 6% for the month, its fifth monthly loss in a row. The 12.1% quarterly loss was the worst since the March 2009 quarter. The S&P 500 fell 28 points, or 2.5%, to 1,131. It was off 0.4% for the week, down 7.2% for the month and off 14.3% for the quarter, the worst quarter since Dec. 2008. The Nasdaq Composite lost 65 points, or 2.6%, to 2,415. It fell 2.7% for the week, lost 6.4% for the month and 12.9% for the quarter.
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Stock quotes, commentary, and opinions presented in this site are for informational purposes only and should not be considered as a solicitation to buy or sell any security. Leigh Baldwin & Co., LLC does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information or make any warranties regarding results from its usage.